Leaderboard

One game for church lock-ins: sardines. Unfortunate about the older scouts. But, make sure the 2nd years especially have a lot of fun, but carry responsibility. It is well within their reach to read sections of the course, then instructions for games and excercises, etc ... The older scouts: back off things like EDGE or lecturing about the being examples, etc ... Instead, challenge them with a roll of twine and say, "Build a cool camp gadget. Try and impress ..."

Numbers released today show Scouts BSA still expanding. Youth membership up net 1.4% and units up net 5.6%.

Found on another website: My troop has done many parts of the Green river, in rafts. When I heard home made canoes I was thinking of something that might float. They really are quite lucky nobody got hurt. There's a lot of that river I wouldn't do in a good canoe much less Tyvek and pvc. Those canoes are just classic. I can see seams that go below the water line where the Tyvek is folded around the frame. I bet that leaks. One of my fears I used to explain to scouts and adults was something along the lines of, I just don't want a photo on the front page of the NYT if this goes bad

I would expect that as district training chair, you might have been involved with facilitating the Scoutmaster Position-Specific training. That is where I would expect you to touch on ILST, so that the new scoutmaster is aware that there is an expectation for him to make sure scouts are enabled to successfully fulfill their positions of responsibility. Now I understand why our district training chair is bald.

Well, in this Arab American family, my parents and older siblings (i.e. old enough to be my parents) did not come with the troop on any activities. My dad and his buddies did enough camping right out of high school ... it was called the World War. After that, they got down to the business of working long hours to give their families good things. It was a rare day that they would even visit camp for an hour ... not even to help put up a gateway at the fair grounds for the bicentennial. That was for our SM's to teach, and us to figure out. My oldest brother was a scout! By all reports he still

I was just talking to a scout in our Jambo troop (and his SM dad), and reminded him "No pressure, but there is something really cool about being able to wear that Eagle patch during last (or in your son's case, last two) summer camp.

I switched from using the guide to using powerpoint and have had more success. Make it fun, have lots of breaks, use slides only as a framework to tell the story or the point you are trying to make. In the beginning I used 2 or 3 adults but have done this enough years to have the scouts do most of the training. The "who is your potato" and paper airplane making are the best of the games. Don't use every game every time, switch it up so it does not get stale. Additional games - Say what I say, do the oppisite of what I do, balloons with responsibilities written on them, . We go o

Like @qwazse said, please no powerpoints. If you feel like they are necessary keep them minimal. My opinion is it's best to have your Scouts be the facilitators, or team up with a more experienced troop for your first time through it. Focus on the games and activities, and have the "lecture" portions be more of a group discussion facilitated by the Scout lecturer. In my Troop, we turn ILST into a weekend patrol method outing. The patrols play patrol games and have competitions. They also go through the ILST activities by patrol. We do ILST every other year, and have our SPL and ASPL

Being a UC, I would say that this fits within our wheelhouse. The truth is, this isn't actually a legal matter yet. You have a scout who is accused of violating the law, but this isn't a police matter. No LEO would be able to act on the information here. This is primarily a mission issue. If this were brought to me, I would advise a meeting between the CC, COR, and SM and NO ONE ELSE. Primarily this kind of issue lies within the preference of the CO. Because, this is a potential legal matter and certainly a recruitment and relationship (and probably safety) matter this should be wh

This is not the only embarrassing nocturnal event that can occur at overnight scouting activities. I am sometimes surprised at how well (and maturely) many of our boys deal with these events.

My nephew had this problem, but he chose to not try to keep it a secret. He didn't like the idea of making up stories and explanations. It is sometimes easier for a boy to just deal with the truth than to try to keep it a secret.

Well, there you go. As long as it meets the needs of the scout and is fun for him, his choices were the right ones. There is never a "one size fits all" camp schedule that will work for every scout in the unit. BTW: Your son doesn't need to wait for "merit badge weekends that the troop" attends. The time-honored way for scouts to earn merit badges is to work on them independently based solely on their own initiative and interests and to find local counselors to work with on a 1-on-1 basis. Sadly, few scouts do it that way these days (and parents seem to expect the easy, insta

I agree with the other posters. At the pack level, there is no participation requirement. The requirement for the pack is: "The pack can qualify for the certificate and streamer by planning and conducting three pack activities—one each in June, July, and August, or during other school vacations if your pack is in a year-round school." The requirement for dens is: "Dens with an average attendance of at least half their members at the three summer pack events are eligible for a colorful den participation ribbon." The requirement for individual Scouts is: "Scouts who participat

Why do parents believe scouts only have one summer camp to get their stinking badges. We don't need no stinking.......... If camp is fun, they will come. Swimming so the scout can attend water activities. Fun stuff for the rest of the week. Barry

I HATE THAT SUMMER CAMP IS TURNING INTO A MB MILL! (Emphasis, ok maybe a little shouting in anger at this occurring ; ) All jokes aside, summer camp needs to be fun. All electives is fine. Heck taking a MB twice, if it isn't in demand, is fine. The new Scout has plenty of time to work on required MBs. But if you are adamant on Eagle required MBs, First Aid and Swimming are the ones I recommend.

I see this is an old topic but it has helped me so I will respond to future noobs. I was appointed as Committee Member Feb 2019. I just bought my uniform today. June 2019. Why the delay. I had to see what my responsibilities were before I decided to what level I could commit. If I had been told I needed to buy a uniform be an active leader up front I would have said no. Some committee members are parents that want to support thier children's scouting ambitions and decudectovtake on additional responsibilities to support the troop. Fantastic for them! The troop needs them and appreciat

Thanks to @RememberSchiff @Sentinel947 @Eagle94-A1 @desertrat77 @willray and @DuctTapefor the warm welcome back. 😎 This summer I do hope to participate in a few threads like this, but with the goal of learning how to make short "explainer" graphs and videos for Free Range kids. What would be the pros and cons of joining a "Troop," if you are a Lone Patrol of kids encouraged by your parents to seek adventure on your own? Thanks again! Yours at 300 feet, Kudu Kudu.Net

Barry: My effort is to create a positive, encouraging thread that highlights positive program activities about all-girl troops. Under the rules of this blog it is proper that off-topic postings are removed from a focused thread, and that is what happened here (and not at my request). Nothing aggressive about that. I look for the better side of people, like the overwhelming majority of bloggers here. My scouting bio includes AOL, Eagle, sea Scout QM, camp staff, vigil, unit leader, district Chair, Council President and Area President. Now I am focusing only on being a Scoutmaster.